New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo is gaining a deserved reputation as a strong leader and effective communicator about the coronavirus crisis in New York state, which has been particularly bad in New York City. His daily live video updates are watched all over the country because of that, and the fact that the state and City are at the epicenter of infection in the United States. But this is the same governor who on March 25 required nursing homes, the highest risk facilities for ...

[Ed: First appearing on DRGO 2 years ago, we repost this piece yearly.] Memorial Day has now come for the 53rd time since it was officially proclaimed in 1967. It has been kept nationwide, though unofficially, since World War II, and as Decoration Day since 1868.  It was born in spontaneous memorials early during the Civil War.  Remembering war dead has been important throughout history, even as the manner of recognition has changed across time and societies. As with many things cultu...

(from ammoland.com) [Ed: This was first published on Ammoland May 20, and is minimally edited to repost here with permission. It is the best discussion of the (non-)relationship of suicide rates with the prevalence of private firearm ownership I have seen, including my own. Kudos to Dean Weingarten! The only additional note from this psychiatrist is that while the final act may happen on impulse, nearly all suicides are pondered for some time, so choice of method becomes part of a plan well ...

(from njspotlight.com) The world will never be the same.  People are out of work.  Factories are retooling to make equipment that we need to fight this war.  The President of the United States has declared an emergency in every state at the same time, which has never happened before.  No one really expected this.  We aren’t prepared for things like this to happen, are we?   The government can respond to something like this.  Industry can ramp up production quickly...

(from tug44.org) On March 23, 2020, Remington Arms Co. CEO Ken D’Arcy wrote a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, offering Remington’s services in the effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic.  While Governor Cuomo was declaring Remington a “non-essential” business, causing the Ilion, NY plant to shutter its operations and lay off workers for at least a month, President Trump was refining his executive orders specifically to include the firearms industry as “essential, criti...

(from unboxingthebizarre.wordpress.com) Imagine if you will, a small gun club in upstate New York, over 100 years old, quick to cow to government decree and comfortable censoring its own members and anyone else who disagrees. Wait, an American gun club, super-submissive to questionable governmental edicts, embracing the muzzling of speech and censoring its members?  I thought the general position of the “gun culture” was anti-government, anti-edict, and general apprehension of authority? ...